Review: Judging a Book by Its Lover by Lauren Leto

Here's the description from Goodreads:
Want to impress the hot stranger at the bar who asks for your take on Infinite Jest? Dying to shut up the blowhard in front of you who’s pontificating on Cormac McCarthy’s “recurring road narratives”? Having difficulty keeping Francine Prose and Annie Proulx straight?

For all those overwhelmed readers who need to get a firm grip on the relentless onslaught of must-read books to stay on top of the inevitable conversations that swirl around them, Lauren Leto’s Judging a Book by Its Lover is manna from literary heaven! A hilarious send-up of—and inspired homage to—the passionate and peculiar world of book culture, this guide to literary debate leaves no reader or author unscathed, at once adoring and skewering everyone from Jonathan Franzen to Ayn Rand to Dostoyevsky and the people who read them.

I received this book with the last Book Riot Quarterly Box.  It is the perfect book to read on a rainy weekend, curled up with a cup of tea.  It's great for anyone wanting to read about books and bookish things.  Topics in this book include things like "rules for reading in public", and what your reading preferences mean.  There's also a hilarious section on what is on the bookshelves of certain types of people.

This is by no means a serious book, and anyone thinking that it is will be disappointed.  It's snarky and fun.  Leto makes fun of readers (and herself), but it is hilarious and not offensive. 

If you're looking for some lighter reading about bookish topics, this is for you.  I loved how Leto wasn't shy about having lied about reading certain classic books (I'm sure we've all done it once or twice over the years!).  I finished this in one or two sittings and it was just what I needed to cleanse my pallet and get ready for my next read.  Also I ended up with a few new books added to my reading list, so that doesn't hurt :)

Some favorite quotes:
Page 245: Happiness is a bent page.

Page 255: My solution for all the young writers being discouraged to the point of giving up is simple.
Murder the others.

Ha that is some pretty sage advice.

Title: Judging a Book by Its Lover: A Field Guide to the Hearts and Minds of Readers Everywhere
Author: Lauren Leto
Date of Publication: 2012
Number of Pages: 269
Genre: Nonfiction
Source: Personal copy, from Book Riot Quarterly Box